Box-office and critical reax to that adorable robot are so socko that everybody’s gushing over the idea that the film will get ?” forget the Oscar for best animated feature, which seems inevitable ?” a nomination for the highest prize. Only one animated film ?” "Beauty and the Beast" in 1991 ?” has been nominated for Oscar’s biggest prize, and that wholesome Disney toon lost to the gory thriller "The Silence of the Lambs" (which was only the third film to sweep the top five races). While "Beauty and the Beast" heralded a renaissance in Disney animated fare, none of the follow-up musical toons ?”- such as "Aladdin" (1992) and "The Lion King" (1994) ?”- could break into the bigger Oscar races, though they scored music awards and the like. In 1995, high-grossing "Toy Story" became the first animated feature to earn a screenplay nom (it lost to "The Usual Suspects"), but it also failed to reap a best picture bid. While it picked up a pair of technical nods, as well as noms for score and screenplay, "Ratatouille" at the end of Oscar night had to be satisfied with winning the consolation prize of best animated feature. read more

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